03/18/2024
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Ron Taylor, owner of Lu Mil Vineyard, was pleased with the turnout for Saturday’s annual conference of the North Carolina Muscadine Grape Association.

He said the annual conference is important because growers can get information they might not get otherwise. Taylor noted that one opportunity to gain information is in the fresh market and growers must have the right packaging to ship their products.

The afternoon session continued with a presentation by Dr. William D. Wagner, who is currently a professor of Pathology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and an Associate in the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

He spoke on the topic of warding off cancer. Dr. Wagner talked about the health benefits of Muscadine grapes and their antioxidant properties.

Dr. Wagner spoke about how polyphenals that are found in Muscadines react on tumor cells. He said that in some laboratory testing a product called Ellagic Acid and Ellagetannis had shown that they could cause cell death in certain types of cancer cells. Dr. Wagner said studies had been done using cultures and extracts made from grape hulls.
There have been no clinical trials with humans.

Dr. Wagner did say a paper published by Tumera Hudson compared the Grape hull extract and reaveratrol. He said the reaveratrol slowed the tumor growth but did not kill it. The Grape hull extract however triggered a slow cell death in the tumor.

He also said there are papers that indicate the same can occur with breast cancer cells, prostrate cancer cells and brain cancers.

Dr. Wagner said that no studies have been done on people who just consume fresh Muscadine grapes.

Also in the afternoon session, growers learned about fresh market Muscadine marketing from Ervin Lineberger of Kildeer Farm in Kings Mountain.

Lineberger told the group that to sell fresh market grapes you can sell direct to the consumer or indirectly through a wholesaler or retailer.

He told the group there many steps to the process of producing fresh market grapes from selecting the right variety for the market place  to the appearance and flavor of the product. Lineberger said that different varieties of Muscadines have different appearances and different flavors.

He said there are different certifications that a grower can obtain voluntarily. Lineberger said all
growers must abide by the FSDA which is a federal law.

Lineberger said that there advantages to selling fresh Muscadines such as higher prices per pound. He also noted there disadvantages as well such as higher market costs and more management demands.

Lineberger noted that you need to k ow your market and you need know about upc coding and some companies require each shipment to have pallet tags.

Following Lineberger’s presentation Whit Jones spoke about pests that have been found including Japanese Armored Scale, Stink Bugs and Root Borers. These pests can damage grape vines and even kill them if left unchecked.

Jones said the newest threat is the Grape root worm that has recently been found in Bladen County. Jones warned growers to be vigilant with their vines and inspect them regularly.

Also, during the meeting Anna Austin unveiled the newly designed association website and spoke of the importance of using social media to promote events at each winery, vineyard or farm as well educating the public.

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